Rail anchor



March 8 g 1927.

. 1,620,275 a. 1.. MOORE RAIL ANCHOR Filed Feb. 18. l926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 ATTORW r Patented Mar. 8, 1927.

UNITED STATES GEORGE L. MOORE, OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAIL ANCHOR.

Application filed February 18, 1926. Serial No. 89,004.

The object of the invention is to provide a rail-anchor, functionally of theone-piece class, which has means for adjusting it to rails of somewhat varying sizes, the adjustmenta-lso enabling the rail-anchor to be restored for service after wear. Diiiiculty is experienced with one-piece rail-anchors because rails are not always rolled to a precisely accurate size, in addition to which rerolled rails are in use. Some rails are oversize and others are undersize, and in the range of variation it is likely to occur that one-piece rail-anchors made for a given size of rail will not fit, or will not hold properly. Rails are also subject to wear on the bottom by rubbing on tie-plates, reducing the thickness of the base of the rail at such regions, and there is also the wear of rust, corrosion from dripping brine, etc., affecting both the rail and the rail-anchor. To be economical and satisfactory to the railroads, an anticreeper or rail-anchor should be capable of repeated uses or applications, but owing to conditions such as those suggested, and to wear in driving the rail-anchor on and off the rail, it may not be possible to use a one-piece anticreeper more than once, and its period of service may be comparatively brief. The principle of the one-piece anticrecper, not relying upon movable wedges, or upon the cooperation of comparatively expensive separate pieces, but ohtaining its grip by virtue of a definite relation of its integral members, is very desirable for reasons of simplicity, economy and ease of application; and the purpose of this invention is to preserve these advantages, important in a device which is used in such vast numbers, while removing its limitation, and to accomplish this result in such a manner that the difference in expense is exceedingly small.

The accompanying drawings illustrate two embodiments or applications of the invention, which can be briefly described. In the said drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of one form of rail anchor embodying the invention, shown applied to a section of a rail and in abutting relation to a fragment of a tie;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the main member of this rail-anchor;

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section through the rail-anchor and its adjustment shoe in position thereon;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a shoe;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a modification; and

Fig. 6 is another similar view, showing still another embodiment of the invention.

The rail-anchor ofFigs. 1%: comprises an integral member 2 cut or punched from a plate so as to provide a transverse underrail portion 3 and two inwardly extending end jaws 4L and 5 of unequal length. Beneath the long jaw 4 a clearance space 6 is provided of such character as to enable the member to be hooked laterally onto the rail in preliminary'engagement, with the long jaw all the way over one of the rail.- base flanges and the short jaw in position to be driven up onto the other flange.

The top of the under-rail portion is formed with a short, shallow notch or recess 7, or is suitably shouldered, to retain a small thin channel shoe 8 of a kind which can he sheared in large numbers from lengths of rolled channels, at slight expense One of these shoes saddled onto the retaining seat 7 of the under-rail portion, projects slightly above the top of said portion and constitutes a bearing against the bottom of the rail at a point intermediate the end jaws. By locating the seat andv the shoe nearer the bearing of the short jaw upon the sloping top of its rail-base flange than to the'bearing of the long jaw on top of the other flange, adifferential leverage results when the whole is driven in a right line transversely of the rail by force applied at the short-j aw end of the device, which causes the rail-anchor to seize the rail with an increasing resilient grip as the anchor is driven, in a manner generally similar to that of the creep check of the Henggi Patent 1,167,299 of January 4, 1916. During driving, and likewise when the device is in place on the rail, the shoulder or shoulders of the seat prevent relative movement of the adjustment shoe along the under-rail portion, the device, notwithstanding that it is actually made in two pieces, being applied, and acting, as if a unit.

Somewhat thicker or thinner shoes 8 can be used to suit different conditions of Wear or variations of rail size, and thus such an anticreeper is adapted for ciiicient performance and repeated use under all conditions.

The device of Fig. 5 is similar to that just described, exceptthat the main memher is provided with a plurality of seats 7, which are arranged in series along the under-rail portion 3, the seats being of slightly different depths or heights, so that range of adjustment can be obtained by putting the shoe 8 on one seat or another, rather than by, or in addition to, employing shoes of different thickness.

Fig. 6 illust'ates the invention applied to a transversely driven one-piece type anticreeper of the special kind disclosed in the Steele Patent No. 1,555,770 of September 29, 1925. In this case a long channel shoe 8 is employed extending as a tangent from about the middle rail. point to the back of the short jaw 5, the shoe being held against longitudinal movement by this back of the jaw and also by a shoulder 15. The relation and action of the jaws 4t" and 5 and of the tangent which bottoms against the under surface of the rail, are fully explained in the said Steele patent and need not be repeated here.

I do not limit myself to the two applications illustrated, as other forms of the invention will suggest themselves.

I claim:

1. A rail-anchor comprising an integral member having an under-rail portion and inwardly extending long and short end jaws to bear upon the sloping tops of the two rail-base flanges, and a separate shoe adapted to occupy a definite position on said under-rail portion and bear against the bottom of the rail, the whole being constructed and arranged to be driven transversely of the rail into strong gripping engagement therewith, substantially as set forth.

2. A rail-anchor comprising an integral member having an undera'ail portion and inwardly extending end jaws to bear upon the sloping tops of the two rail-base flanges, and. a separate shoe adapted to occupy a definite position on said underrail portion and bear against the bottom of the rail, the whole being constructed and arranged to be driven transversely of the rail into strong gripping e1 gement therewith, substantially as set forth.

A rail-anchor comprising an integral member having an under-rail portion and. inwardly extending end jaws to bear upon the sloping tops of the two rail-base flanges, said under-rail portion having a pli""liity of retaining seats at different positions lengthwise thereof and a separate shoe adapted to be placed on one or other of said seats, the whole being constructed and arranged to be driven transversely of the rail into strong gripping engagement tl'ierewith, substantially as set liorthf A rail-anchor comprising an integral member having an under-rail portion anzl inwardly extending end jaws to bear upon the sloping tops of the two rail-base flanges, said under-rail portion having a plurality of retaining seats of different heights, and a separate shoe adapted to occupy a definite position on said underrail portion and bear against the bottom of the rail, the whole being constructezj and arranged to be driven transversely of the rail into strong gripping engagement therewith, substantially as set forth.

GEORGE L. MOORE. 

